Yearly Archives: 2018

America’s opioid crisis has been growing steadily for years, despite rising alarms about its impact on affected communities. However, emerging trends in electronic health record technologies for behavioral health and substance abuse care providers now provide the technical tools needed to address opioid addiction on the frontline, right in the medical clinic that makes the diagnosis. From intake to discharge, behavioral health-focused EHRs enhance the medical professional’s capacities by expanding their patient data portfolio to include intricate details that are […]

Medical and Mental EHR Interoperability

Although almost half the American population will suffer from a mental health disorder at some point, less than two-thirds of those people will receive any mental health treatment. The stigma associated with mental illness interferes with the ability of mental and behavioral health services providers to engage fully with medical teams. One of the primary factors that unintentionally reinforces this stigma is the lack of compatibility between behavioral health care software and other electronic […]

In the multi-disciplinary field of behavioral health, health information technology can enable better delivery of care to patients. Using the right electronic health record (EHR) system helps behavioral health and substance abuse providers not only save time and money throughout the practice, but also help save lives. Comprehensive EHRs improve communication between providers, streamline administrative processes, minimize paperwork, monitor opioid and other medication use, and alert providers to patient risk factors.

Current users of electronic health records (EHR) systems interested in transferring to a new vendor software, as well as practices soon to transition from paper medical charts to EHR, have many available options. Because implementing an EHR system involves significant investments of money and time and because staff will interact with the system on a daily basis, the decision is not a hastily made one. Several questions should be answered when evaluating EHR system choices to help practices choose a […]

Medical identity theft is on the rise and set to cost the healthcare industry over $6 billion in annual losses, according to data security experts. Even with strict HIPPA compliance, your behavioral health practice may still be vulnerable to security breaches from a number of sources. Unfortunately, many victims of medical identity theft are not aware that their information has been compromised until it’s too late. Knowing what to look for, where your practice may be vulnerable and what precautions […]

According to Walker, by the year 2020, businesses will value their overall customer experience more than the price of a product when making a purchasing decision. Effectively, this means that business to business sales, which were once largely decided by costs and bidding, will soon be decided by which product can best guarantee mutual success. This is no different in the healthcare industry. In fact, hospitals are busier than ever, which means that healthcare providers need to […]

The Four Challenges we are facing Today

As much as one-quarter of the U.S. population suffers from some form of mental health or substance abuse concern, and the American health care system is struggling to provide the scope, depth and breadth of care those conditions demand. While evolving regulations and unstable politics complicate the effort, innovative policies and advancing EHR technologies promise many mental health and substance abuse patients access to better, safer health supports than they’ve ever before experienced. […]